the war on drugs

[mrmcdonaldduck]

has the war on drugs really helped?
it hasnt stopped the flow of drugs, or made them expensive.
it has killed and injured as many people if there wasnt a war on drugs and in trying to stop production, has destroyed 1000s of acres of rainforest.

[sasquatch]

Well, I think the problem is that The "War on drugs" is so goddamn negative, It perpetuates this paranoia of the masses, scaring people into not trying drugs, of course, i would say that YES we do need enforcement against drugs such as heroine, crack cocaine, etc, but the erb could have such a positive effect on the world if it wasn't still being stigmatized ratehr than resaerched. for instance, the reason it was first made illegal, was because it was apparantly "the devils herb" so, apparantly religious reasons for establishing a law, which... i thought was morally wrong and actually illegal?

Funny how for thousands of years Hemp was used for all manner of things, paper, sails, rope, clothes, food (the seeds). but somehow it just happened to be criminalized when an american company started producing paper by cutting trees down. well. its almost never going to stop, this war on drugs (freedom of choice and respect for the individual)


Bob marley spoke it better than I will ever be able to.

"Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction."


"All dese governments and dis this and that, these people that wanna do so much good, why them say you cannot smoke the herb? Herb... herb is a plant, you know? And when me check it, me can't find no reason. All them say is, 'it make you rebel'...Against what?"

[Modus Operandi]

The War On Drugs is a stupid term. Drugs aren't an enemy like Hitler or Al Qaeda, the only people they kill are the ones stupid enough to use them.

Edit: Yes, I am aware of gang violence about drugs.

[Sage]

Wars are supposed end, but people will always want to get high. This is not a war that can be won.

[Camazotz]

The war on drugs is a joke. It isn't going to deter people from buying or selling them and/or using them.

[theOperaGhost]

The war on drugs is a joke. It isn't going to deter people from buying or selling them and/or using them.

I think we should increase punishment more than it is. Make all illegal drug and drug paraphernalia possession a felony (in America, and whatever is comparable in foreign countries). The negatives (for the individual and the society) far outweigh any possible benefits of doing drugs.

I've got a better idea for fighting this "war on drugs" though...put all users of illegal drugs in the middle east and nuke the fuckers!!!

EDIT: since nobody seems to get my sarcasm, the last statement is merely a joke...

[Sage]

I think we should increase punishment more than it is. Make all illegal drug and drug paraphernalia possession a felony (in America, and whatever is comparable in foreign countries). The negatives (for the individual and the society) far outweigh any possible benefits of doing drugs.

I've got a better idea for fighting this "war on drugs" though...put all users of illegal drugs in the middle east and nuke the fuckers!!!

The negatives of bashing your head in with a wooden plank with a nail in it (for the individual and society) far outweigh any possible benefits of bashing your own head in with a wooden plank with a nail in it.

I've got a better idea for fighting this "war on bashing your head in with a wooden plank with a nail in it" thhough... Put all bashers of wooden planks with nails in them in the middle east and nuke the fuckers!!!

[tripolar]

The war on drugs is a joke. It isn't going to deter people from buying or selling them and/or using them.

I completely agree the war on drugs is a huge waste of tax payer money, people do not care and if people like it they will do it.

[INFERNO]

I doubt the "war on drugs" is going to be an effective thing. For one, the people who are doing the illegal drugs or drug abuse are probably going to continue despite any increase in punishment or risks. Many of the drugs lead to people getting addicted and so they may feel the need to get their hands on the drugs over and over. Also, new drugs will probably be invented along with new ways to transport them.

It's not so much of a full-out war in my view because there seems to be fighting mostly from just one side. This doesn't mean that the other side is just sitting there, they are fighting but I think a good amount of them aren't fighting. It's not a war where both sides think they're right but won't see eye to eye; one side is simply pumping themselves with chemicals in order to get high or pleasure and the other side wants to deprive them of their potential pleasure.

As for the label, "war on drugs", I think it's a horrible name because it instills the idea that all drugs are bad. Drugs are merely chemicals that alter the physiology of a person, hence, drugs can be good (i.e. insulin), however, with the name "war on drugs", it can lead people to thinking that all drugs are bad. As for it being a war, well, it's not really a war as one side is only fighting while the other side is doing far less fighting and a lot more of developing new things to use on themselves not on others.

[theOperaGhost]

The negatives of bashing your head in with a wooden plank with a nail in it (for the individual and society) far outweigh any possible benefits of bashing your own head in with a wooden plank with a nail in it.

I've got a better idea for fighting this "war on bashing your head in with a wooden plank with a nail in it" thhough... Put all bashers of wooden planks with nails in them in the middle east and nuke the fuckers!!!

I happen to enjoy bashing my head in with a wooden plank with a nail in it...more fun than doing drugs.

[Sage]

I happen to enjoy bashing my head in with a wooden plank with a nail in it...more fun than doing drugs.

Fantastic, you can be the nail-n-plank poster child.

But anyway, you're missing the point. You can instill as much fear as you want and lay down as much punishment as you want, but at the end of the day, people are always going to want to get high.

[sasquatch]

Ok,yeh, lets put all the drug users in the middle east and nuke the fuckers HAHA yeh good suggestion, i mean, they are all a waste to society right? espeically all these people. All the people on this list are/were drug users and so a complete waste of life right?


Abrams, Isaac: Psilocybin, Mescaline, Cannabis, LSD
Aitken, Jonathan: LSD
Allen, Steve: LSD ??
Allen, Tim: Cocaine
Alpert, Richard: LSD, Cannabis, Mescaline, DMT, Mushrooms
Amos, Tori: Ayahuasca
Armstrong, Lewis: Cannabis
Artaud, Antonin: Peyote
Atwell, Allen: LSD
Aurelius, Marcus: Opium
Baker, Ginger: Amphetamine
Bankhead, Tallulah: Cocaine
Barry, Marion: Cocaine
Bartholdi, Frederic: Coca Wine
Bateson, Gregory: LSD ??
Baudelaire, Charles: Absinthe
The Beatles: Cannabis, LSD
Belushi, John: Cannabis, Heroin, Cocaine, LSD
Bernhart, Sarah: Cocaine
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett: Opium
Bruce, Lenny: Heroin, Cannabis
Burroughs, William: Cocaine, Heroin, Mescaline, Opium, Psilocybin, LSD, Cannabis, Ayahuasca
Campbell, Ali: Cannabis
Charles, Ray: Heroin
Churchill, Winston: Nitrous
Clapton, Eric: Heroin
Cleveland, Grover: Cocaine
Clinton, William: Cannabis
Cocteau, Jean: Opium
Cobain, Kurt: Heroin
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor: Laudanum (Opium)
Collins, Wilkie: Opium
Colt, Samuel: Nitrous
Corso, Gregori: Nitrous
Cros, Charles: Absinthe
Crosby, David: Cannabis, Cocaine, LSD
Crowley, Aleister: Many, Heroin
Dali, Salvidor: Hashish
Davy, Humphry: Nitrous
Delacroix, Eugene: Hashish
Dawson, Ernest: Hashish
DeQuincy, Thomas: Opium
Dickens, Charles: Opium
Dole, Bob: Viagra
The Doors: LSD, Mescaline, Cannabis
Downey Jr, Robert: Cocaine, Amphetamine
Doyle, Arthur Conan: Opium, Cocaine
Drake, Nick: Amitriptyline
Dreiser, Theodore: Nitrous
Dumas, Alexander: Hashish
Duncan, Isadora: Cocaine
Eden, Anthony: Amphetamine
Edison, Thomas: Coca Wine
Ellis, Havelock: Peyote
Eminem: Ecstasy, LSD
Farley, Chris: Morphine
Fat Boy Slim: Ecstasy, Ketamine
Fisher, Carrie: Prescription Drugs
Fonda, Peter: LSD, Cannabis
Franklin, Ben: Opium, Cannabis
Freud, Sigmund: Cocaine
Garcia, Jerry: Heroin, LSD, Cannabis, Cocaine
Garfunkel, Art: Cannabis
Garland, Judy: Amphetamine, Barbiturates
Gates, Bill: LSD
Ginsberg, Allen: Nitrous
Gladstone, William: Opium
Goettell, Dwayne: Heroin
Gore, Al: Cannabis
Gore, Tipper: Cannabis
Gounod, Charles: Coca Wine
Grant, Cary: LSD
Grant, Ulysses S.: Cocaine
Grateful Dead: Cannabis, LSD
Hagman, Larry: LSD, Peyote, Cannabis
Harrison, George: LSD, Mushrooms, Cannabis
Halstead, William: Morphine
Hemingway, Ernest: Absinthe
Hendrix, Jimi: LSD, Heroin, Barbiturates
Harrelson, Woody: Cannabis
Hilton, Paris: Mushrooms
Hitler, Adolph: Amphetamine
Hoffman, Abbie: Cannabis, Cocaine
Hoffman, Albert: LSD
Holliday, Billie: Heroin, Opium
Hopper, Dennis: Cannabis
Hugo, Victor: Hashish
Huxley, Aldous: Mescaline, LSD
Jackson, Andrew: Cannabis (Hemp)
Jagger, Jade: Cannabis
James, William: Nitrous
Jarry, Alfred: Absinthe
Jefferson Airplane: Cannabis
Jefferson, Thomas: Cannabis (Hemp)
Jobs, Steve: LSD, Cannabis
John, Elton: Cocaine
Jolie, Angelina: LSD, Cocaine, Heroin, MDMA, Cannabis
Joplin, Janis: Heroin
Keats, John: Opium
Kesey, Ken: LSD, Many others
King George V: Cocaine, Opium
King, Stephen: Cocaine
Leary, Timothy: LSD, Cannabis
Leich, Donovan: LSD, Cannabis
Lennon, John: LSD, Mushrooms, Cannabis
Lennon, Sean: MDMA
Lilly, John: LSD, Ketamine
Limbaugh, Rush: Opiates
Lincoln, Abraham: Cannabis
Love, Courtney: Heroin
Luce, Henry: Mushrooms
Lugosi, Bela: Opium, Morphine
Madison, James: Cannabis (Hemp)
Marley, Bob: Cannabis
Marquat, Judge: Cannabis
McCarthy, Joseph: Opium
McCartney, Paul: Heroin, Cocaine, Cannabis, LSD
McKenna, Terence: Mushrooms, DMT, Cannabis
Mirren, Helen: LSD
Mitchell, Joni: Cannabis
Mitchell, Wier: Peyote
Mohammed: Hashish
Monroe, James: Cannabis (Hemp)
Moore, Marcia: LSD, Cannabis, Ketamine
Morrison, Jim: LSD, Mescaline, Cannabis, Cocaine
Mothers of Invention: Cannabis, LSD
Mullis, Kary: LSD
Nader, Ralph: Cannabis
Nelson, Willie: Cannabis
Nicholson, Jack: Cannabis, LSD
Nicks, Stevie: Cocaine
Nightingale, Florence: Opium
Nin, Anais: LSD
Ouspenski, Peter: Nitrous
Paracelsus, Philippus Aureolus: Opium
Parker, Charlie: Heroin, Amphetamine
Phoenix, River: Cocaine, Heroin
Picasso, Pablo: Opium
Pierce, Franklin: Cannabis (Hemp)
Plotinus Opium:
Poe, Edgar Allen: Opium
Pope Leo XIII: Coca Wine
Porter, Cole: Cocaine
Presley, Elvis: Cocaine, Prescription Drugs
Prince Harry: Cannabis
Pryor, Richard: Cocaine
Queen Victoria: Opium, Cannabis, Coca Wine, Chloroform
Rather, Dan: LSD, Heroin
Rehnquist, William: Placidyl
Richards, Keith: Heroin
de Richelieu, Cardinal Duc: Opium
Rimbaud, Arthur: Absinthe
Roget, Peter Mark: Nitrous
The Rolling Stones: LSD, Cannabis
Sagan, Carl: Cannabis
Sartre, Jean-Paul: amphetamines, mescaline
Scott, Sir Walter: Opium
Shakespeare, William: Cannabis
Shelly, Percy: Opium
Sklar-Weinstein, Arlene: LSD
Smith, Huston: Psilocybin
Southey, Robert: Nitrous
Star, Ringo: LSD, Mushrooms, Cannabis
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Cocaine, Morphine
Sting: Ayahuasca, Mushrooms
Stravinsky: LSD ??
Taylor, Desmond: Cocaine
Taylor, Zachary: Cannabis (Hemp)
Thompson, Hunter S.: Cannabis.
Van Gogh, Vincent: Absinthe
Ventura, Jesse: Cannabis
Verlaine, Paul Marie: Absinthe
Verne, Jules: Coca Wine
Warwick, Dionne: Cannabis
Washington, George: Cannabis (Hemp)
Wasson, R. Gordon: Mushrooms
Watts, Alan: LSD, Cannabis, Mushrooms, Psilocybin, DMT, Mescaline
Wedgwood, Thomas: Nitrous
Weil, Andrew: Cannabis
Wilberforce, William: Opium
Williams, Montel: Cannabis
Wilson, Bill: LSD
Yeats, WB: Hashish
Zola, Emile: Coca Wine



Now if you look carefully there are some extremely important people there, some of whom were presidents....
Now, they did drugs...but all them have achieved more than many of us will ahcieve in our lifetime, does that not indicate that perhaps the propoganda we are fed with may be a little bit...on the skew.? WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR for fuck sake! does that not show us somthing???

Opera ghost, perhaps you should close your mouth and open your eyes.

YES. drugs can be harmful, YES they can be addictive, YES they can ruin lives, YES they can turn you into a blithering idiot. and. YES Hitler took drugs.


But what you have just said "nuke the fuckers" What sort of reflection do you think that casts on people who campaign so virulently to eradicate drugs? do you think it makes you look like a sober and tolerant person?

It certainly doesn't indicate that you have the level of rational understanding to actually have any right to Argue on the topic really does it?
Ok, so you're a law abiding citizen? so what about human rights? Freedom of choice?... you Just undermined everything that your constitution stands for in a sentence. Think next time.

I wholly expect the majority of people to not even bother looking at the list, and some will be content to splurge some more ignorance into this thread. but, hell thought i'd give ya'll a chance.

disclaimer: I am not promoting illegal drug use, I'm simply pointing out which figures have used them and how its an ignorant suggestion to nuke them/us all...

Oh, by the way guys, wether people choose to acknowledge it or not, ALCOHOL, is also a drug, so by that logic, almost every important figure in western history, and the vast majority of human beings in both western history and in a mordern context......are drug users.
Is alcohol harmless?...

Peace.

[theOperaGhost]

First of all, Christy, I was just joking...I use sarcasm a lot, get used to it.

I'm not going to deny that some great things came from drug use. The Beatles' best music came from when they were drugged out of their minds. Drugs can open up some of the most creative parts of your brain, which CAN be a good thing, however I still feel that the negatives of drug use far outweigh the positives. I don't think by giving a huge list of people who used drugs and did good stuff by any means makes drug usage acceptable though. It's simply saying "well, all these people did it, so I might as well do it too!" Also, look at some of the people on the list...Kurt Cobain blew his head off with a shotgun, Elvis: drug overdose, John Belushi: drug overdose...the list of those people who have died from drug overdoses is plenty extensive as well. I'd also like to know where you got this list as well as how much these "users" used drugs. Were they addicts? Did they use it occasionally? Did they simply try the drugs?

[sasquatch]

Ok, i Apologize for not seeing the sarcasm, always harder to tell on the internet as apposed to real life. If i had known I wouldn't have derepped your post. A case of me needing to close my mouth and open my eyes obviously!

http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/characters_drug_use.shtml

I don't believe that The use of drugs recreationally has much use asides from creative enhancement and in some cases (as with hasish) with health problems.

However, it is not the DRUG itself, it is the things which MAKE the drug, that could benifit mankind, Ifg governments stopped perpetuating fear, and actually resaerched them. For instance When under the influence of MDMA, if you have a cold, or flu, or muscular pain, etc. You WILL NOT feel it, so perhaps take that chemical and actually use it?

I'm not saying by any means that everyone in the world should go around fucked out of thier faces, but there should be more openmindedness in general.

When you mention the humanly negative points, such as Kurt cobain, I honestly don't believe anything could have helped him, If someones head isn't built for drug abuse, then things to go very very wrong, but then i think to be fair he was suicidal as well as high...

"Elvis died on August 16, 1977 in the bathroom at Graceland. After being found on the bathroom floor, Elvis was rushed to the hospital where he was officially pronounced dead. The coroner recorded the cause of death as cardiac arrhythmia. While true in the strictest sense (cardiac arrhythmia basically means that the heart was beating irregularly and in this case, finally stopped), the attending physicians deliberately omitted the fact that what had apparently caused Elvis' heart to beat irregularly and then stop was an overdose of prescription drugs. These drugs included codeine, Valium, morphine, and Demorol, to name a few." Prescription drugs Jared (sorry just learned your name:) ) Drugs that are semi legal...but then he had developed long sustained problems from taking amphetemines during his tender in the army...

John belushi however is a perfect example,that is Heroin, I would never advocate use of it, and certainly not legalization of it, but the opiate receptor has also been abused by medical science using the same chemicals, eg, morphine, valium.

I put the link for the site i got the list from, i've used it many times and it has proven to be an extremely reliable source of information.

You do have a good point with your last question, I honestly can't answer that, I know that the beatles dabbled, as with the doors, in drugs without becoming addicts. You can bet your bottom dollar that any name with either cocaine next to it or heroin (and possibly opium) were addicts. ....although florence nightingale as an opium addict is not somthing i can imagine... :O A huge amount of money to buy large amounts of very expensive drugs is always going to lead to addiction with the large majority of people, or at least i believe it to be that way.


Again, I didn't realise you were being sarcastic, so sorry if i was hasty in my attitude. Sad thing is I see and hear reactions like that in real life more times than you would believe. Tis somthing that does stretch the nerves at times.

Peace

[theOperaGhost]

Ok, i Apologize for not seeing the sarcasm, always harder to tell on the internet as apposed to real life. If i had known I wouldn't have derepped your post. A case of me needing to close my mouth and open my eyes obviously!

http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/characters_drug_use.shtml

I don't believe that The use of drugs recreationally has much use asides from creative enhancement and in some cases (as with hasish) with health problems.

However, it is not the DRUG itself, it is the things which MAKE the drug, that could benifit mankind, Ifg governments stopped perpetuating fear, and actually resaerched them, for instance. When under the influence of MDMA, if you have a cold, or flu, or muscular pain, etc. You WILL NOT feel it, so perhaps take that chemical and actually use it?

I'm not saying by any means that everyone in the world should go around fucked out of thier faces, but there should be more openmindedness in general.

When you mention the humanly negative points, such as Kurt cobain, I honestly don't believe anything could have helped him, If someones head isn't built for drug abuse, then things to go very very wrong, but then i think to be fair he was suicidal as well as high...

"Elvis died on August 16, 1977 in the bathroom at Graceland. After being found on the bathroom floor, Elvis was rushed to the hospital where he was officially pronounced dead. The coroner recorded the cause of death as cardiac arrhythmia. While true in the strictest sense (cardiac arrhythmia basically means that the heart was beating irregularly and in this case, finally stopped), the attending physicians deliberately omitted the fact that what had apparently caused Elvis' heart to beat irregularly and then stop was an overdose of prescription drugs. These drugs included codeine, Valium, morphine, and Demorol, to name a few." Prescription drugs Jared (sorry just learned your name:) ) Drugs that are semi legal...but then he had developed long sustained problems from taking amphetemines during his tender in the army...

John belushi however is a perfect example, however that is Heroin, I would never advocate either use of it, and certainly not legalization of it, but the opiate receptor has also been abused my medical science using the same chemicals, eg, morphine, valium.

I put the link for the site i got the list from, i've used it many times and it has proven to be an extremely reliable source of information.

You do have a good point with your last question, I honestly can't answer that, I know that the beatles dabbled, as with the doors, in drugs without becoming addicts. You can bet your bottom dollar that any name with either cocaine next to it or heroin (and possibly opium) were addicts. ....although florence nightingale as an opium addict is not somthing i can imagine... :O A huge amount of money to buy large amounts of very expensive drugs is always going to lead to addiction with the large majority of people, or at least i believe it to be that way.


Again, I didn't realise you were being sarcastic, so sorry if i was hasty in my attitude. Sad thing is I see and hear reactions like that in real life more times than you would believe. Tis somthing that does stretch the nerves at times.

Peace

I actually have no argument against any of this (as far as I can see). And no problem for not seeing my sarcasm, as it is pretty difficult to tell on the internet who is being sarcastic or not. I maybe should have added a ":P" or something to it...lol.

I see your viewpoint and although I don't have any personal experience with drugs, I shall say something. I think that recreational use of drugs is pointless and rightfully illegal. Use of drugs for a purpose I am OK with. What I can't stand is people who want pot or something legalized simply for recreational use...get a life people...you don't need pot. I just think it's stupid to use any drug, including alcohol, recreationally (this may be hypocritical, since I have drank alcohol once and will very likely drink many more times in my life).

[Grey fox]

This is a bit off topic, but EVERY time i see this title, I think it is "the war on ducks" and I can't help but laugh!

What is the war on drugs though!?!?

[sasquatch]

People like Her? Jared ^ :P:P:P

nah sorry mate, Ducks?? you random person!

[theOperaGhost]

Wasn't the war on drugs declared by like Nixon or something? It's basically an action taken by the US as well as some other nations to end or slow the trade of illegal drugs. It's rather political and economical...the US can't make any money off of pot, so they make it illegal.

[sasquatch]

Well, that's the bronze tack in the ass right there isn't it? i think you read my post on the other thread, but yeh, alcohol kills thousands. cannabis has killed 1. ever. heh and yet one is legal, one isn't, one can be taxed, one can't. its got to mean somthing.

[mrmcdonaldduck]

This is a bit off topic, but EVERY time i see this title, I think it is "the war on ducks" and I can't help but laugh!

What is the war on drugs though!?!?

i feel so insulted

[Zephyr]

We spend billions trying to fight it, and it's a lost cause.
Just to give you an idea...
http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

That money could go towards things that are so much better.
Hell, how about healthcare for one :P

I, for one, am not opposed to making cannabis legal.
It's the the most used illegal drug,
But it's much less harmful then tobacco and alcohol.
Just put the same restrictions on it,
And let it be marketed.
Hell, we allow Salvia to be marketed (at least here in Oregon to my knowledge),
Basically does the same things to you as Marijuana,
So why not Cannabis?

That'll cut the cost of this 'war on drugs' tremendously.
Before you say anything about that being the gateway to legalizing other drugs,
Please be logical.
Hardcore drugs are harmful and society will never allow those drugs to be legalized.

We're never going to be able to stomp drugs out entirely,
Mankind has been using some of these substances for thousands of years.
I think that the nasty side effects alone are punishment enough.
I'd rather see users sent to rehab than prison,
Then dealers given a high fine with jail time if they are caught.
It's only a very small portion of the population (6% of so)
That uses them on a regular basis.
http://www.ncjrs.gov/htm/chapter2.htm
So why are we spending billions fighting against such a small majority?

[sasquatch]

Peck her donald! Peeeeckkk her!!!! :p

hey, Epiphany, I just need to point out, although i agree with the majority of your post. Salvia is NOTHING like cannabis. It is legal, so i would suggest tryign it yourself if you want to find out how far from cannabis it is. but not if you're unready to have your brain catapulted into space.

"put universe in cannon, aim at brain. Fire"

In high doses it is a great great deal more intense and fully immersive than LSD.

so definitely nothing like cannabis. Good post otherwise though :)

[Grey fox]

Peck her donald! Peeeeckkk her!!!! :p

Nooo! :(

Seriously though, what is "the war on drugs" ??

[theOperaGhost]

Nooo! :(

Seriously though, what is "the war on drugs" ??

um......

Wasn't the war on drugs declared by like Nixon or something? It's basically an action taken by the US as well as some other nations to end or slow the trade of illegal drugs. It's rather political and economical...the US can't make any money off of pot, so they make it illegal.

[Zephyr]

A friend of mine's smoked Salvia before,
Said it effected her the same as pot,
That's where I drew my assumption at.
Everyone's different though, -shrug-

And so what if we would make little to no money off of pot.
It's better than spending billions fighting it.